Convicted sex offenders are lurking on popular online dating sites, waiting to turn you from hopeless romantic to hapless victim.

The Post found two sex offenders, and learned of another ex-con, lurking on Match.com – the world’s largest and most popular Internet dating service – last week.

One is a New Jersey man convicted of sexually assaulting two teens.

Evin Nieradka, a 31-year-old West Point graduate convicted in 2001 of simultaneously assaulting two girls ages 12 and 16, was on Match.com as recently as Wednesday searching for “sexy fun ladies in Monmouth County” under the name “evin363.”

His bio included a shirtless photo of himself – a photo that caught the eye of an acquaintance from his New Jersey town.

“I’d been on the service for about two months when I came across his profile,” said the woman, who didn’t want to be identified. “I knew he had been arrested, so I thought it was weird he was on there.”

After doing some research and confirming Nieradka’s past – he’s on the New Jersey Corrections Department sex-offender search – she reported the finding to Match.com in two separate e-mails and canceled her service. Nieradka was removed from the site, but it did nothing to restore the informant’s faith in Match.com or online dating.

“I am really scared to date on the Internet now after seeing that,” she said. “I mean, I happened to know him but what if I didn’t? There could be other dangerous guys on there and I would never know.”

Sex offenders and other ex-cons often use dating sites like Match.com and Yahoo! Personals to profile and cherry-pick victims, charges Celeste Moyers, project manager of the Safer Online Dating Alliance in Texas.

“It’s a playground for sexual predators,” she said. “Pedophiles can go through the site looking for women with children just to get to the kids. It has happened.”

Moyers said the country’s 40 million online daters “must keep their guard up. These people are very good at what they do.”

Like Dr. Robert Wells of California, a convicted sex offender also found on Match.com, trolling the personals under the moniker “WCMD” – a “romantic, sensuous physician.”

Wells, 66, was convicted of committing lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old. But his profile – which includes a professional photo of the con in a suit and tie – is as tame and average as they come. “I have a happy, good life,” he writes. “I would very much like to find a mate to share our mutual happiness.”

Wells hasn’t fooled everyone. He was thrown off dating site True.com in November for lying about his status as a convicted felon when he signed up.

True.com – the only online dating site that does background checks – also took the doctor to court for the lie.

True CEO Herb Vest said Wells got through the background check because the county in which he was arrested refuses to give criminal records to commercial businesses.

“I am very, very concerned that Internet dating sites in general do not take this criminal situation seriously,” said Vest, who is advocating legislation requiring dating sites to disclose on their home pages whether they do background checks. “It’s imperative to our industry that we keep criminals off our sites.”

Wells had previously been spotted on eHarmony and Yahoo! Personals, Vest said.

Dating sites other than True – including Match.com – maintain that background checks interfere with user privacy, and insist online dating is as safe as possible if everyone uses caution before proceeding.

But sometimes users do everything right and still get burned.

A Connecticut woman followed all the rules – she didn’t give out any personal information, met her man in a public place, spoke on the Internet before setting up a date – but still ended up meeting an ex-con who stalked her for months after an eight-week fling.

“The stalking phase lasted longer than the relationship,” she said.

The man showed up at her home unexpectedly, called her nonstop and threatened her with bodily harm before she called the police and reported him. Connecticut authorities confirmed he had been in prison for four years before joining Match.com.

“He was really good at hiding everything,” she said. “I followed all of Match’s rules, but there’s really no way of protecting yourself . . . I know there are good people on there. But that experience definitely turned me off.”

angela.montefinise@nypost.com

Match made in hell

Two convicted pervs are known to have used Match.com to troll for women.

Evin Nieradka

Residence: New Jersey

Age: 31

Match.com Moniker: “evin363”

Record: Convicted of two counts of sex assault on girls ages 12 and 16

Dr. Robert Wells

Residence: California

Age: 66

Match.com Moniker: “WCMD”

Record: Convicted of committing lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old.